Forum anglais: Questions sur l'anglais
Tout ce qui a un rapport avec l'apprentissage de l'anglais: grammaire, orthographe, aides aux devoirs, phrases etc.
To speak/talk & TAG
Message de celph posté le 08-06-2006 à 15:30:03 (S | E | F | I)
Hello everybody,
I have two questions for you.
The first one is, what's the difference between to talk and to speak ?
The second one is, if we say "Everybody does it, do they ?",
do we say "No one does it, doesn't one ?" or "No one does it, don't they ?" ?
Thanks for your answers !
Message de celph posté le 08-06-2006 à 15:30:03 (S | E | F | I)
Hello everybody,
I have two questions for you.
The first one is, what's the difference between to talk and to speak ?
The second one is, if we say "Everybody does it, do they ?",
do we say "No one does it, doesn't one ?" or "No one does it, don't they ?" ?
Thanks for your answers !
Réponse: To speak/talk & TAG de machrychar, postée le 08-06-2006 à 16:55:16 (S | E)
-On emploie to talk lorsqu’il s’agit d’une conversation, to speak lorsqu’il s’agit d’une situation ou une seule personne parle ou pour parler de connaissance des langues.
I'm talking to you since I can speak English.
-Bien que no one, nobody s’accordent au singulier ils sont repris par they de même que everyboby.
note: Nothing est repris par it.
Réponse: To speak/talk & TAG de traviskidd, postée le 08-06-2006 à 17:05:41 (S | E)
"Speak" and "talk" are often interchangeable; nevertheless there are some slight differences in meaning and usage between the two verbs:
"Speak" refers to the action of speaking in and of itself.
"Talk" refers to the conveyance of ideas or messages through speaking.
Also, "speak" is used in more formal contexts, whereas "talk" is used in informal situations.
To answer your second question, in "very correct" English one would have to say "Everybody does it, doesn't he?" because "everybody" is considered singular. However, nobody would really ever say it this way; in fact one would say "Everybody does it, don't they?" Similarly, one would say "No one does it, do they?"
Note also that if the statement is in the affirmative, then the tag will be in the negative, and vice versa.